Alelopatia: levantamento da produção acadêmica

Abstract

Allelopathy is a term that was created in 1937, by the Austrian researcher Hans Molisch, to designate the effect involving chemical compounds. The phenomenon of allelopathy can be defined as the process that involves secondary metabolites produced by plants, algae, fungi and bacteria that influence the growth and development of biological systems. In vegetables, the allelopathy factor is related to the capacity of cover crops or weeds to influence the development of the species of interest. In view of this, the present work, presented as a literature review, aims to address the main effects of allelopathic compounds in vegetable cultivation. For data collection, SciELO, Science Direct, Academic Google and the Database of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (BDPA-Embrapa) were used. The knowledge so far obtained about the allelopathic effect of certain plants on vegetables was obtained through experiments carried out in the field and in the laboratory, through the addition of extracts at different stages of development of the crops of interest, in order to assess whether or not a particular species has an influence on vegetables. In some vegetable cultivation practices, cover crops are used in order to improve soil quality, reduce the weed population, among other factors. Cover plants, when in the process of decomposition, release allelopathic compounds, influencing the germination, development and productivity of crops of interest.